Wallace discusses genre systems:
It is true that, to some extent, each type of text is a response to the one(s) preceding it and an anticipation of the one(s)
to follow, and therefore partakes in exemplary fashion of the dialogic framework as theorized by Bakhtin. Each text is in
some sense an utterance in a dialogue, which conceivably allows for the dialogue’s beneficial development. On the other hand, each genre lends itself to being oriented towards a particular audience, which does not entirely coincide with the audiences of the other genres. This differentiated audience is a large part of what defines the texts as separate genres,
but in terms of participation in an ongoing dialogue, genre division can be used, as my analysis has demonstrated in this
case, to effect a degree of interruption, distortion, and exclusion (176).
“In contrast to the traditional view of policymaking, which assumes a rational process of problem identification and solution evaluation, much actual policy turns out to be solution-led. In other words, predetermined policy measures are imposed as “solutions” to retrospectively presented ‘problems’…[B] y framing the policy process as a conventional problem-focused one, works to conceal the fact that the government has already made up its mind” (159; 175).
Key Terms
- System of production: “where the favored policy is “managed” through the traditional democratic framework of agenda setting, consultation, and enactment” (159)
- Genre system: “different but related genres within a particular domain work together to generate rhetorical effects out of their differences in language, textual organization, designated audience, purpose, etc.” (159)